Unity and C# Glossary

A glossary of Unity and C# terms that will be updated as lessons are uploaded.

DebuggingThe process of looking through your code to find and fix programming errors or typing mistakes.

GameObject

Everything within a Scene is a GameObject in Unity. GameObjects consist of a collection of Components can be visual components, sound playing components, and scripts. Every GameObject has a TransformComponent attached to it describing where it is in the Scene.

Component

Components define different aspects or behavior of GameObjects in Unity.

Script

A file attached to a GameObject that lets you define parameters and behavior through code. The most commonly used coding language in Unity is called C# (“C Sharp”).

Transform

The Transform Component determines the location and size of a GameObject. Transform has three settings. Position is where the GameObject is location. Rotation is the direction it is facing. Scale is the size of the GameObject. Each of these is represented by numbers in the X axis, Y axis, and Z axis.

Vector2

A grouping of numbers representing the X and Y axises.

Vector3

A grouping of numbers representing the X, Y and Z axises. In 2D games, the Z axis can be ignored and set to 0.

Prefab

A GameObject saved to your project folder, for reuse later. Editing parameters on the Prefab saved in your project folder will change those on all copies of the Prefab, except for parameters that have been edited in a scene.

Instantiate

A command in scripts to create a GameObject. Most commonly used to spawn copies of enemies, or for firing projectiles such as bullets and fireballs.

Material

A reusable set of data determining the color, sheen, and texture of 3D objects in Unity. Some of the Parameters of a Material using Unity’s Standard shader:

Shader: code that determines how a material looks

Albedo: the base color of an object

Metallic: how reflective an object is

Smoothness: how rough a material looks.

Normal Map: an effect that simulates adding detail to simpler 3D models using a special image

Height Map: using data in an image to add physical details to the 3D model, more complex